This invention relates to improvements in supinating seat and control display arrangements for aircraft cockpits, and especially for high performance aircraft.
Heretofore, it has been recognized that pilots of high performance aircraft have an upper limit of physiological and cognitive capability when seated in the usual generally erect position. With available knowledge about the pilot limitations supinating pilot's seats of the character shown in U.S. Pat. to Hall et al, No. 3,098,631 of July 23, 1963 have been proposed. The Dillon U.S. Pat. No. 2,304,781 of Dec. 15, 1942 has proposed a form of pilot's seat for military aircraft which responds to the release of a bomb for reclining the pilot and any crew members during pull-up from a bomb run. A very recent proposal is disclosed by Von Beckh in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,434 of July 30, 1974 which disclosed a pilot's seat positionable in either a normal sitting or a supine position.
Current fighter aircraft possess maneuvering performance capabilities which challenge pilot physiological and cognitive capabilities from the standpoint of both maximum limit G tolerance and fatigue at intermediate maneuvering G. levels. Today's fighters enable the frequent and repeated use of load factor, at will, in the air combat maneuvering environment. When seated in an upright position, from back angles of 10.degree. (normal position) through about 45.degree., pilot load factor tolerance degrades substantially. This occurs as a function of load factor magnitude, time at load factor levels, and frequency of repeated load factor application. The use of extensive high G training (physiological straining and muscular control) and anti-G suits have been found to offer some improvement but cannot match the aircraft capability without compromising the pilot's ability to effectivey think, command, and control his aircraft. Prior centrifuge and research airplane work has verified that substantial improvements in pilot load factor tolerance and performance can be realized through repositioning of the pilot so that aircraft load factor is applied in a transverse direction. The mechanism for accomplishing this in the cockpit is a reclining or supinating seat. However, previously adapted reclining seats severely impaired pilot control and visual capability, and were not amenable to aircraft ejection escape provisions.
The cockpit characteristics of this invention may include the use of an articulating ejection seat with cockpit concepts utilizing multi-purpose displays, fly-by-wire and throttle-by-wire control technology. Integrations of the control-display technology, digital computation capabilities, and gyro-stabilized rocket ejection systems make integration of an effective articulating seat and compatible cockpit arrangement practicable and feasible. While the principal component is the articulating seat, enabling pilot repositioning for G protection, and which seat may be rejectable, equally important cockpit features that complement use of the improved seat, are primary flight controller and throttle placement to provide continual access and use for all seat positions. Included are the recessed forward control instrument display areas to provide display capabilities compatible with seat position, and to allow comfortable rudder pedal access for all seat positions.
The novel features of the presently preferred embodiment include adjustability of seat-to-back from a shoulder-pivot location which lifts and reclines the body within the cockpit to provide a protective position with respect to the aircraft applied G vector, opening the seat bucket angle during seat articulation to provide rudder pedal access, and introduction of cockpit control-display recessed panels to provide usable and effective cockpit integration. Compatibility of head support and controller integration arrangement renders the embodiment fully usable, while use of a shoulder located pivot enables adaptation to existing ejection seats and facilitates simplified seat construction without compromising basic seat structure and ejection performance.
An important object of the present invention is to provide a supinating seat and control instrument display for high performance aircraft which combines an instrument display panel having openings to accommodate the pilot's feet and legs, seat mounting provisions spaced from the display panel, and a pilot's seat carried by the mounting structure and including a seat bottom and a seat back which are pivotly interconnected and supported at a shoulder height pivot so as to be movable between a normal seated position and a position in which the pilot's body is raised from the shoulder area into a position substantially transversed to the direction of the resultant acceleration vector.
It is a further important object of this invention to provide a pilot's supinating seat for an aircraft having high performance characteristics to provide for positional adjustment of the seat from the shoulder height of the pilot without affecting the position of the pilot's head so as to avoid impairing the pilot's vision with respect to the outside world and important instrumentation.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a vehicle, such as an aircraft or the like, with a novel combination of a seat assembly of adjustable character carried on fixed support structure and spaced from instrumentation display panels, and to arrange the combination so that a person positioned in the seat assembly will have visual access to the display panels and will also be in convenient reach of manipulative components, such as pedals and levers, to the end that the vehicle can be managed and directed as desired for whatever seat adjustment is selected.
Other objects and advantages for the present invention will be hereinafter more particularly described in connection with the disclosure of the supinating seat and control display for aircraft cockpits.